Wayne Rooney: My overhead kick knocked Man City out of title race

Manchester United striker
Wayne Rooney has claimed his wonder-goal overhead kick that beat Manchester City at Old Trafford on Saturday has effectively knocked
Roberto Mancini’s side out of the Premier League title race.

Rooney produced a breathtaking finish from Nani ‘s deflected cross in the 78th minute to condemn City to a 2-1 defeat, which leaves them eight points adrift of their league-leading rivals.

And the England forward described the result as ‘significant’.

‘It almost certainly rules City out of the title race unless a disaster happens,’ he added.

Rooney’s confidence that only Arsenal can overhaul them could be misplaced, though, with United’s run-in considerably more difficult than their closest challengers.

Sir Alex Ferguson ‘s side must still play Chelsea home and away, and visit Liverpool and Arsenal, while the only tricky trips left on City’s schedule are also to Stamford Bridge and Anfield.

Arsenal have arguably the easiest end-of-season fixture list, with the derby at Spurs the only away game left that fans will consider genuinely difficult. They also host United and Liverpool during the final few weeks.

Meanwhile, City manager Mancini believes his team are getting ‘very close’ to United – despite the Italian’s only win in the fixture coming in the first leg of a Carling Cup semi-final that they eventually lost on aggregate.

‘In the five derbies I have been involved in, there is only one time when we didn’t deserve to win,’ he claimed.